1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flat fluorescent lamp and a liquid crystal display device having the flat fluorescent lamp. More particularly, the present invention relates to a flat fluorescent lamp capable of improving display quality and a liquid crystal display device having the flat fluorescent lamp.
2. Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display (LCD) device displays an image using liquid crystal. The LCD device has many merits such as lightweight, thin thickness, low driving voltage and low power consumption. Therefore, the LCD device is used in various fields.
The LCD panel is a non-emissive device that does not generate light by itself. Thus, the LCD device includes an LCD panel displaying an image and a backlight assembly providing the LCD panel with light.
A conventional backlight assembly employs a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) a s a light source. As the size of an LCD device having the conventional backlight assembly increases, the number of CCFLs employed in the backlight assembly also increases. Thus, manufacturing cost increases, and optical characteristics such as luminance uniformity are lowered.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a flat fluorescent lamp has been developed. A conventional flat fluorescent lamp includes a lamp body divided into a plurality of discharge spaces and a n external electrode formed on a n outer surface of the lamp body to apply a discharge voltage thereto. The conventional flat fluorescent lamp generates plasma discharge in each discharge space by applying the discharge voltage to the external electrode from an inverter, and then emits light using the plasma discharge.
The conventional flat fluorescent lamp includes an electrode part and a light emitting part. Recently, a flat fluorescent lamp having an enlarged area of the electrode part in comparison with the light emitting part has been developed to improve luminance and light using efficiency. However, when the flat fluorescent lamp is driven, dendrite is rapidly generated at a portion that the electrode part and the light emitting part meet each other. Then, the generated dendrite diffuses into the light emitting part. The dendrite is generated due to mercury (Hg) ion deposition induced from heats and electric fields generated at the electrode part. The dendrite advances toward the light emitting part, so that display quality of an LCD device having the flat fluorescent lamp is deteriorated.